Thompson School District wants efficient way to look at budget

Board of Education will begin development for 2013-14 budget in January

By Shelley Widhalm Reporter-Herald Staff Writer

Posted:
12/12/2012 09:32:53 PM MST

Though the news was old, the school board tried a new way of looking at the budget that was quick, simple and took less than 60 minutes.

The Board of Education had as their guide Steve Towne, chief financial officer, as he reviewed Thompson School District's budget for the 2012-13 school year that the board approved in June.

"We always want to be about efficiency," Towne said during the board meeting Wednesday. "If we can find a way to be more efficient, we want to do that."

Towne displayed several graphs and charts on the district's expenses, following last week's presentation on the revenue side for the 2012-13 budget that is in place for this school year.

The expenses were $113.99 million, $3.3 million more than the district's revenue from the state, property taxes and other funding sources. That difference required the district to make several budgetary cuts.

Approximately 75 percent of those expenses, or $85.59 million, was for full-time equivalents, or staff salary and benefits. The rest was for non-FTE expenses, including instructional materials, transportation and an allocation for the district's two charter schools.

Towne provided a line-by-line analysis of each expense area.

"There is very little in this group here that is discretionary," Towne said, pointing about the portion of the non-full-time equivalent budget that includes capital reserves and utilities.

In the second half of his presentation, Towne provided a licensed market wages analysis, using 2010-11 numbers. The analysis needs to take into account inflation and statuary increases, he said.

"By the way, our salary schedules have not changed since 10-11," Towne said.

The district would have to spend approximately $3 million to meet the average salaries of districts such as Johnstown, Poudre and St. Vrain, Towne said.

In January, the administrative staff will start the budget development process for the 2013-14 budget. The administration and the board will meet monthly, Towne said.

In other action

The board approved a tax rate of 40.884 mills for properties within the district. The rate is a reduction from the 42.31 mills levied by the district for the past year and will not affect the current year budget.

The board discussed the possibility of developing an environmental learning academy that would foster the exploration of nature and sustainability concepts, as well as STEM, or science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The academy is proposed as a partnership among the district, the city of Loveland and the High Plains Environmental Center.

"It's a great opportunity for us as a district to spotlight what we have here," said Denise Montagu, board member.

The academy, if built, would follow a K-5 or K-8 design and consist of several labs, open gathering areas, a school cafeteria and naturally lit classrooms, as well as outdoor spaces, according to a presentation given by Margaret Crespo, executive director of secondary education.

Funding would come from tax incremental financing from the Centerra metropolitan taxing district in eastern Loveland.

"It's not about this one school. It's about what the district will look like in 10, 15 years," said Mike Jones, assistant superintendent of human resources and school support.